Carrie Underwood became a household name back in 2005 when she stole the hearts of Americans as the fourth season American Idol winner. Underwood continues to be a big name as she inspires young women.

Currently, Underwood has two new singles out, Cry Pretty and Love Wins, in light of her upcoming Cry Pretty album, to be released Sept. 14. The album will feature a total of 13 songs.

Cry Pretty starts off slow and quite in a rather apologetic manner as Underwood sings softly with tears in her voice, “I’m sorry, but I’m just a girl. Not usually the kind to show my heart to the world. I’m pretty good at keeping it together.”

To me, these lyrics mean it is perfectly fine to let your emotions out if times get too hard. We’ve all been there, things happen and we just need to let it all out.

After the opening, Underwood belts

out the song’s chorus “You can pretty lie and say it’s okay. You can pretty smile and just walk away, pretty much fake your way through anything, but you can’t cry pretty.”

No matter what you do, once you hit that breaking point, you can’t hide it. Your pain is evident.

Overall, this song was really good to listen to because of the powerful lyrics throughout. Cry Pretty is an amazing, well-written song

 that you can cry to when you have hit your breaking point.

Underwood’s second single out is Love Wins, is a ballad that starts out slow and soft much like Cry Pretty

. Unlike Cry Pretty, Love Wins does not got straight into the lyrics, but has a soothing, almost angelic guitar and drum beat to transition into the lyrics. Once again the singer starts out in a quiet voice, almost as if she is scared to cause conflict.

Love Wins hints at the real world and the problems we face as a society today. Everything from police brutality to the country’s current political divide are mentioned through the opening.

Underwood quickly loses the sacred attitude to stand up for what she believes in. Her voice soars, as she sings the ballads chorus, “And we’ll never fall if we walk hand in hand. Put a world that seems broken together again, yeah I, believe in the end love wins.”

If nothing, else this single in itself is the anthem of this year with all the different activist groups and turmoils we are facing today as a country. The spot as this year’s anthem would be well earned.

Underwood finishes Love Wins strong by chanting, “Love will, love can, love still, love wins” twice in a row.

I would definitely add this song to my spotify playlist or turn it up if it came on in the car. It is a powerful song that really brings attention to what is going on in society today.

With all of that being said, when I first heard these two beautiful, lyrically powerful ballads, I was not a huge fan, but the more I listened to them, the more they grew on me. Underwood has once again gone a step above the rest to prove her worth and will continue to inspire others with songs such as Cry Pretty and Love Wins.

If the rest of the album is nearly as emotional as these two singles, and I suspect it will be, listeners will be strapping in for an emotional rollercoaster. There is no doubt Underwood worked long and hard, putting all her heart into these beautifully crafted, soul moving pieces. I would definitely recommend giving this album a listen.

5/5